What is a Gospel Church?

A question which people ask about our church is what our name means. The word ‘gospel’ has a variety of meanings in our culture. Gospel can refer to a style of music or one of the books of the Bible, such as the ‘gospel of Mark.’ People who want you to believe that they are not lying, may refer to the ‘gospel truth,’ as if regular truth cannot be trusted.

Fort Lee Gospel Church is called ‘gospel’ for the message that is preached. The word translated into English as ‘gospel,’ appears almost 100 times in the New Testament and can be translated ‘good news.’

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus left heaven, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, and rose from the dead on the third day. II Timothy 2:8-9 says, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.” The gospel is all about who Jesus was and what he did almost 2000 years ago.

The ‘gospel’ message is also a message of hope for change. Paul wrote in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” Belief in Jesus and repentance brings salvation, according to the gospel message. Paul was a Jewish Rabbi who radically changed from being a hater of Christians to becoming Christianity’s best known advocate. The difference was that he came to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Paul would say that the message of Christianity is the gospel. He said, “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”

It is the hope of Fort Lee Gospel Church that we would declare the ’gospel’ of Jesus Christ in all that we do as a church. We invite you to study on your own or with us in coming to understand who this Jew named Jesus was all about.